No comments about Glow Discharge Plasmas in Analytical Spectroscopy.

No comments about Quantitative Applications of Mass Spectrometry.

No comments about Spectrochemical Analysis Using Infrared Multichannel Detectors (Sheffield Analytical Chemistry Series).

No comments about Vibrational Spectroscopy in Life Science (Tutorials in Biophysics).

1 comments about Counterterrorist Detection Techniques of Explosives.

1. The image on the book's cover is one of the best I've seen in many years. The subject is important and a hard technical problem. But the cover immediately and axiomatically summarises the promised capabilities of the antiterrorist methods.
   
   Be warned. The text is deeply technical. With an emphasis on the chemistry of explosives. Most explosives [well most solid substances] outgas. It is the detection and classification of this vapour that takes most of the book's attention. Many methods are brought to bear on the problem. Where you need to remember that only trace quantities of vapour will be present.
   
   One method uses differential mobility spectrometry. Another idea is to have a MEMS - a small micromechanical widget on a chip, that functions as a little chemistry lab, optimised to detect explosives. Yet another approach uses millimeter waves for imaging. (This was used to make the cover's image.)
   
   Overall, the conclusion is promising. The different methods collectively offer high probabilities of detection. Whether these can be pervasively and economically done at sensitive sites like airports is another issue, outside the book's remit.

2 comments about Electron Paramagnetic Resonance: Elementary Theory and Practical Applications.

1. Electron paramagnetic resonance is a fairly complicated experimental technique, and the task of writing a textbook on this method is extremely challenging. This particular book is written by experienced scientists and covers all major modifications of EPR, as well as extensive bibliography. However, the presentation of the material could be much, much better. I found it very hard to follow the authors mostly because the systematics in presentation, from full explanation of simple things to more complicated ones, is lacking almost completely. Sometimes I even had a strange feeling that subsections of the book were written independently and were just put next to each other in the final manuscript, so different is their writing style, and so weakly they are related to each other. Unfortunately, there are not so many books on EPR published recently which are available at bookstores, so the readers do not have a lot of choice...



2. As a graduate student at Caltech, I first started learning about EPR from the first edition of this book. The first edition (much slimmer) was not perfect, and I found useful complementary information in the works of Poole and Baird, but I noticed that I kept returning to Weil and Bolton for answers to my most fundamental questions. The appendices including lucid treatments on instrumental design and the relevant quantum mechanics were particularly useful in my overall understanding of the theory and practice of EPR. In the newest edition, the subject is given an even broader overview, with clear discussions of modern techniques. The best of the bunch. I also recommend Poole's _Electron Spin Resonance: A Comprehensive Treatise on Experimental Techniques_, Bersohn Baird's _Electron Paramagnetic Resonance_, and the _Handbook of Electron Spin Resonance_, edited by Poole and Farach.

No comments about Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry and its Applications (Sheffield Analytical Chemistry Series).

No comments about Handbook of Partial Attenuation Coefficients of Characteristic X-Ray Radiation.

2 comments about Fundamentals of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

1. This book use very simplistic explanation of FTIR Spectroscopy. It is oriented on non-technical person with no background in physics. At the same time the terminology used requires that background. Result: confusion and disappointment. Not to mistake an honorable reader, the word "Fundamentals" in the title should be replaced with something like " Introduction.... for technicians".



2. This book is excellent for the person new to the concepts and applications of FTIR spectroscopy. Smith uses clear and concise language that is easy to interpret. Other books about the same subject are very difficult to read, and the language is too technical. This book provides an excellent base to build your knowledge of the subject on. Hats off to Dr. Smith - his book has helped me a lot.

2 comments about High-Resolution NMR Techniques in Organic Chemistry (Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry).

1. Many people have been waiting for the publication of this book. As the successor of one of the most beloved classic NMR texts "Modern Nmr Techniques for Chemistry Research - by A.E.Derome, 1987" it is nicely updated and still nice looking and easy to understand.

   For those who want to get some insights on the NMR experiment, it would be a great help. This seems to target organic chemists who use NMR everyday and eager to know what is going on inside, but even serious NMR research may want to see this book. This book includes more recent technique and discussion on the solution NMR, and also some of bried overview on the solid state NMR. Easy to follow explanation, more intuitive and pictorial description would be very helpful to the chemistry student and researchers.




2. Just a bit of material to supplement the earlier review... This is a very solid book for advanced users of NMR spectroscopy investigating organic compounds. However, if you can get your hands on it, Derome's "Modern NMR Techniques for Chemistry Research" is better written and clearer to understand. Unfortunately, that book has been out of print for some time and is now hard to find. That said, Claridge's book represents and extra decade's worth of material and you really can't go wrong with either book.